Endless carrier



HgM. JOHNSTON. ENDLESS CARRIER; APPLICATION men 1uLvs1. 192o. v

Patented June 6,1922.

' INVENTEJFL. 1 Mg. n'rfi fi I UNITED STATES.

PATENT f HOWARD M. JOHNSTON, or 'ronon'rogolvranro, CANADA, .assreivomro MASSEY-=1- HARRIS COMPANY, LIMITED, OEIQBONTO, CANADA. Y

nivnnnss CARRIER. I

' Application filed July '31,

T all/whom it may concern Be itknown that I, HOWARD M. JoHNs'roN,

of the city of Toronto, in the county'of York,

Province of Ontario, Canada, a subject of the King of Great Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Endless Carriers, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates particularly to the means for carrying the canvas-conveyors employed in harvester binders. When such machines are not in use it is desirable that the conveyors should be slackened to take the tension off the canvas, and my object is to provide means for supporting one or more of the rollers carrying such conveyors in such a manner that the conveyors may be rapidly and easily tightened and slackened as required. i

I attain my object by means of the constructions hereinafter described and illus trated in the accompanying drawings in which-- v Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of part of a harvester binder illustrating the location of the endless carriers to which the invention is applied;

Fig. 2 a plan view, partly in section andpartly broken away, of one of the rollers-provided with my improvements;

Fig. 3 an ,end elevation of the same parts showing the rollers in the carrier'tensioning position; and

Fig. 4 a similar view showing the roller in the carrier slackening position.

In the drawings like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, 1 is the grain deck conveyor and 2 and 3 the elevating conveyors of a harvester binder, these conveyors as usual comprising slotted canvas belts running on rollers 4. To oneroller of each conveyor will be applied the means for tightening and slackening the conveyors herein described. Referring particularly to Figs. 2, 3 and 4, it will be seen that the roller 4 is formed of a shell sleeved on an end member 5 having a hub 6 which is journalled on a stationary shaft 8, which extends from end to end of the roller. In practice roller hearings will be used between the hub 6 and the shaft 8, but such construction is, of course, not essential to my invention. A disk 12 is provided with a hub 7 secured on Specification of Letters ratena Patented I June. 6-, 192 2.-

1920. Serial no. 400,499.

the shaft. =This disk forms one member of a toggle, 9" being the other member o fthe toggle, which is pivote'd'atlO I on the frame- The hub 7 slides in a slot each end of the roller are secured to the shaft 8 so that by rotating the shaft both members 12 will be rotated. To rotate'the shaft I I provide the handle 13. I. find the .most convenient arrangement is to pivot this handle at '14 on the shaft so as to facilitate the engagement and disengagement of the other end of the lever from the spring clip 15 secured to the frame. Normally this lever is engaged with the clip as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. When itis desired to move the roller to slacken the conveyor, the lever is swung out of engagement with the clip and then pulled over to the position shown in Fig. 4, the direction of rotation being as indicated by arrow in Fig. 4.

It willbe noted. that the toggle member or disk 12 is cut away to form a diametrically extending sho-ulder 16. This shoulder engages the under side of the toggle member 9, when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 3, just after the toggle members have reached their position of greatest extension, and thusprevent further movement of the said members past that position. The

strain of holdingthe toggle members in their extended position is thus taken off the lever 13. The opposite end of the shoulder 16 engages the upper side 'ofthe toggle member 9 when the toggle membersvhave been operated to slacken the canvas and thus prevents further movement of the toggle mem-e bers. To give suflicient relative movement of the toggle members and to provide for the proper engagement of the member 9 with the shoulder 16, I? find it necessary to cut I,

away the toggle member 9 as indicated at 17,

thus maintaining the toggle member out. of

contact with the shaft 8. What I claim asmy invention is:

1. An endless travelling carrier, including a roller round which the carrier passes an asupporting frame therefor, providedfwith a carrier slackenlng and tensioningdevice 1 10.

said disk, the link and disk forming toggle mechanism normally holding said shaft in 1ts carrler tensionlng positlon.

2. A device constructed as set forth in claim 1 provided with a shoulder on each disk engageab le by the adjacent link just after the toggle members have reached their position of greatest extension to prevent further movement of said members, past that position. I

3. An endless travelling carrier, including a roller roundvvhichthe carrier passes and a supporting frame therefor, provided with a carrier slackening and tensioning device comprising a shaft, on which said roller is journalled, slidable in the frame, toggle mechanism" at each end ofthe shaftengaging the shaftand the frame normally holding said member in its carrier tensioning position; a lever arm pivotally connected to one end of the shaft to swing on an axis at right angles to the shaft; and a clip secured to the frame and adapted. to hold the lever when the members of the toggle mechanism are in their carrier tensioning position.

Signed at Toronto, Canada, this lath day of July, 1920. I I

HOWARD M. JOHNSTON Witnesses: I

JOHN G. HossAoK, BERTHA lVIOCLINTOCK 

